Archive for the 2009-2010 school year Category

The King of Blues passed away yesterday at the age of 89. Here’s a comic I did back in 2010 where a bright student of mine not only bested one of my arguments but showed a depth of musical knowledge that was impressive for a 9th grader. Rest well, Mr. King.

I’m often asked if I have a “tip jar” for the comic where readers might be able to contribute something to the strip. I don’t really have anything like that set up; I’ve passed my hat around a few times over the years but for the most part it makes me uncomfortable. I’m not a professional and I don’t expect people to think of me as such.

That being said, a unique opportunity has arisen for my classroom and, in the spirit of this undertaking, it feels right to put it out there.

DonorsChoose is a website that distributes money and resources to underfunded public schools via donations from everyday folks. The organization is currently running a campaign wherein they will release $100,000 dollars in donor money if they can get 5000 people to donate to individual teacher proposals. I currently have several projects waiting hopefully to be funded on the website including this one. Take a look if you have a moment:

So here’s what I’m asking: If you’ve at all enjoyed the comic over the years and it’s within your means, please make a small donation. The contest specifies 5000 donations… but that number is in no way attached to the size of your donation. If a bunch of my readers donate a dollar or two, that will help take a huge step toward freeing up that $100,000 dollars. That money’s not going to the comic or to me, it’s going to kids who live in a really poor urban area of southern Ohio who need gateway books to capture their interest in reading.

Thanks in advance to anyone who thinks about making a donation. I think you can see that there are a lot of fun books on there that might be the first step in capturing a reluctant reader’s attention… comics galore!

I mainly did this strip as a “think” piece. I was trying to decide whether or not I could do this strip without directly referencing the existence of other teacher, and ultimately I decided that would be impossible and completely dishonest. I very much doubt that I’ll end up including this in any other collections of this comic, so consider this a “web exclusive!”